Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The greeting belongs to Paul's letter to Philemon, written from the time of his voyage to Rome and his imprisonment there as a prisoner in chains under soldier guard. It opens his plea for Onesimus with an affectionate greeting to Philemon as friend and fellow worker. That greeting holds out grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The grace named in the greeting is the source of every good purpose and trait of character in Philemon. That grace alone is what makes him different from the perverse and the sinful. The same grace can make even a debased criminal a child of God and a useful laborer in the gospel.
The greeting belongs to Paul's letter to Philemon, written from the time of his voyage to Rome and his imprisonment there as a prisoner in chains under soldier guard. It opens his plea for Onesimus with an affectionate greeting to Philemon as friend and fellow worker. That greeting holds out grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The grace named in the greeting is the source of every good purpose and trait of character in Philemon. That grace alone is what makes him different from the perverse and the sinful. The same grace can make even a debased criminal a child of God and a useful laborer in the gospel.